"CAQH has developed a coordinated effort among multiple health plans to conduct one of the largest studies to date of long-term beta blocker adherence," said Donald Fetterolf, M.D. chair of CAQH Measurement Work Group, medical director of Highmark BlueCross and BlueShield and co-author of the study.
"Beyond advancing knowledge and science CAQH will utilize the information to develop and implement appropriate interventions to help heart attack survivors achieve the benefits of this important and life-saving drug," he said.
The researchers identified 15,070 patients in 44 states where CAQH had both administrative and prescription data. In terms of insurance type, 73 percent were covered by commercial insurance plans, while the remaining 27 percent were covered by the Medicare+Choice plan. The data used was for calendar year 2001.
In the patients who survived one year after their heart attack, researchers measured the proportion of patients who had been taking beta blockers for at least 75 percent of the time for periods of three, six, nine and 12 months after their heart attack.
"We found a declining proportion of patients were adherent to beta blockers over time from hospital discharge in all insurance products and all geographic regions," Kramer said.
Specifically, 55 percent of patients had been taking beta blockers regularly during the first three months. However, looking over the full year after heart attack, only 46 percent of patients had been taking beta blockers at least 75 percent of the time.
"For drugs like beta blockers, adherence is very important, since patients need to take the drug for years after their heart attack in order to get the benefits," Kramer said.
The researches believe that reasons for the declining adherence are probably many an
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Contact: Richard Merritt
merri006@mc.duke.edu
919-684-4148
Duke University Medical Center
9-Mar-2004